The Games of War: A Treasury of Rules for Battles with Toy Soldiers, Ships and Planes

© 2010 John Bobek. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

First published by AuthorHouse 6/17/2010

ISBN: 978-1-4343-3028-4 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4678-5765-9 (ebk)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2007907753

Printed in the United States of America

Bloomington, Indiana

DUNGEONS & DRAGONS® is a trademark of Wizards of the Coast, Inc.

GEN CON, the Gen Con logo, and The Best Four Days in Gaming! are trademarks of Gen Con LLC

All trademarked titles are the property of the trademark owners.

Contents

Chapter 1: Getting Started

Chapter 2: Ancients and the Middle Ages

Chapter 3: The Horse and Musket Era

Chapter 4: 20th Century Land War

Chapter 5: Sky Warriors

Chapter 6: Naval Wargames

Chapter 7: Miscellaneous Rules + Bibliography

To my mother and father for getting me hooked on toy soldiers.

To my Uncle Vic for getting me started on military models of planes, ships and tanks.

To my Uncle Eddie for his military service in Korea.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

So many people are involved directly and indirectly when a book is written. That’s even truer when it’s a book of games! Top on my list would be Bob Mijonovich, my long-time college buddy and a game designer in his own right, who kept me honest when rules just didn’t work. Chris Kostecka, Tom Rizzi, Paul Delejewski were the core of my local wargames group, always patient with playtesting rules. Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, who were examples of great game judges. Everyone who played in one of my games had an impact in how I wrote my rules. In no particular order, I want to thank Kevin Cabai, Adam Baczyanski, Curt Sabo, Marty Fenelon, Randy Cadow, Tom Tuck, Tony Adams, Kevin Knudson, Don Lowry, Lee Wallin, Greg and Phil Golemo, Gene Leander, Dennis Billo, Frank Dolik, Mike Reese, Ken Valentine, Val Dal Degan, Larry and Phil Albert, Lenard Lakofka, Bill Hoyer, Paul, Cote, Jeff Perren, Mark Nyderek, Mark Goldberg, Wash Perry, Cliff Hinton, Gary Gerhke, Rob Kuntz, John Lorys, John Mansfield, Bill Reyburn, Bob Reuschlein, Tom Zito, Tony Morale, Cliff, Hinton, Steve Virostek, Dennis Billo, Rafe Garza, Dale and Gary Bley, Carlos Maldonado, Steve Misora, John Creamer, Bob Belczak, Patrick Belzcak, Ken Kostecka, Keith Kostecka, Marie Kostecka, Joshua Kostecka, Karen Bedore, Jeff Bedore, Aaron Bedore, Reed Bedore, Ray Vlcek, Chris Gasiorek, Steve Hojnacki, John Hauppa, Tom Brown, Mark Czerwinski, Tom Kosierowski, John Ormond, Ron Lagowski, Pat Finnegan, Tom Daley, Bill Kragh, John Herdzina, Jeff and Jeremy Battistoni, Dan and Bill Grabon, Roger Witek, Mike Cosentino, Patrick Daley, Bill Checovich, Zachary Prazuch, Susan Hillman, Alex and Henry Slawniak, Ryan Szymkiewicz, Roy Diaz, Glenn Oskvarek, Drew Dalton, Kyle Dalton, William Stopka, Daniel McIntyre, Quinn McAuliffe, Jeremy Garcia, Mike Barajas, Tim O’Brien, Alex Kosmopolis, Joe Maes, Dan Perez, Lucas Pieczynski, Kevin Ealey, Javier Rios, Anthony Phipps, Jeremiah Stymacks, Kyle McNicholas, Jason Torres, Brendan Finnegan, Joe Dudek Jr., Bryan Villanova, Dan Witte, Dave Sherman, Michelle Campos, Rachel Waliszewski, Thomas Samansky, Dan Koziol, Tom Mizwicki, James Lopez II, Vince Dalcerro, Luke Pieczynski, Kyle, McNicholas, Joe Bretz, Alex Kosmopolis, Adam Dachowski, Dan Koziol, Pat Pokrovac, Joe Eichorst, Zachary Muscolino, Tim Mansch, Mike Solofra, John Seibel, Paul Stormberg, and many others whose names now escape me. All the people who graciously put up with my judging at games conventions in the Chicago area, Lake Geneva, Madison, and Notre Dame. I especially thank my 8th grade History students at St. Daniel the Prophet where they had to do history labs using wargames in the classroom. I want to especially thank Ron Bowles and the staff of AuthorHouse for their advice and patience. And finally, I want to thank Brian Roberson, Nicole Noga, and Stephen Para. They’re the best godchildren anyone could want!

Introduction

   First, let me say up front, this book is NOT like most books! While I hope you will read every page, it’s not necessary. Read what interests you and what you need to know to play the games you like. What IS different about this book is how you will use it. Every time you play a wargame with these rules, you will need this book to consult. No one, least of all me, can remember every detail of every game! You will need to refer to pages in this book every game. It’s laid out to make finding topics easy. Even so, I recommend that you use some sticky tags to mark the sections you require. Then, I would use highlighters to mark whatever’s important to you. You might use pink for combat, blue for movement, and yellow for morale.

   Something about this book interested you or you wouldn’t be reading this. With so many computer and board wargames, why have a book about wargaming with toys? Why WARgame at all? As a college student during the Vietnam War, I remember some angry war protesters labeling all wargamers as warmongers. It was probably true that most of the people at our weekly evening gaming sessions were of a conservative bent, but we had some participants who were themselves active on campus against the war. Others saw us playing with toy soldiers and called us childish. Well, we had our moments. It’s hard to forget the sight of an African-American friend wearing a plastic toy Nazi helmet while commanding the Germans!

   If you grew up with a collection of toy soldiers or action figures, you may reflect fondly on your imaginary battles and your heroic deeds in miniature. There is something about the tactile sensation of handling a well made toy soldier, tank, ship, or airplane. It puts us back in touch with our childhood. Once again, you can do great deeds, and be a hero.

   If you love history, especially military history, wargames are a great way to bring it to life. I was always able to identify with people from different time periods and their struggles against the bad guys. Wargames let me experience some of what I had read.

   While still in grade school, I got Milton Bradley’s American Civil War boardgame. I played it many times, mostly against my good friend Rick. The combination of reliving history, manipulating the toy-like game pieces, and the social camaraderie were heady stuff to a seventh grader during the centennial of the Civil War. This feeling would revive itself in high school when I bought the first of many Avalon Hill wargames.   

In college, I was overjoyed to find that in joining the Games Committee on campus, I could now use toys to fight battles on tables placed together in the school’s cafeteria. The early rules were simple (Later I would find out that the apparent simplicity was due to most of the rules being written in the judge’s head!), the HO tanks and the model ships were cool, and the games were challenging and always different! Most importantly, everyone had a great time! I found I didn’t know as much history as I thought. I did more reading just to talk intelligently with my new friends. Since I still had many of my old toys, I found myself bringing and judging games.

   This hobby combines the modeling skills of model railroading and model building, the joys of collecting, and the fun of friends enjoying a game. Is it WAR? Of course not! It’s the modern version of chess. Does it teach people to kill or to love war? Hardly! Parenting styles have more to do with violent tendencies than games, even videogames. In fact, people with aggressive tendencies are usually bored by wargaming because it is primarily a cerebral experience. Can it teach someone to be a better soldier? Possibly, but that is a side effect. If anything, people learn just how dangerous real war can be. I’ve been killed many times in wargames. I have no desire to ever be in an area where real bullets are flying around!

Is it anti-Christian? No. If you are a Christian, it gives you an opportunity to remember that real people gave their lives for what they believed in. Playing wargames shouldn’t hamper your Christian Faith anymore than playing chess would, and certainly less so than football!

   Wargames are, however, a useful tool for educators as historical simulations, sort of a lab activity for History. There is a section in this book that covers the use of wargames in school. It also sharpens one’s mental math skills!

   Wargaming, I suggest, is better than playing video or computer games because they are primarily a solitary activity. Interaction with friends is limited at best. Wargaming is primarily a social event. You need warm bodies to play. Solitary play, while possible, is simply less fun! Video and computer games restrict the use of imagination. You are locked into a finite set of scenarios and possibilities. If the game designer has erred in his or her construction of the game, you can write in and complain hoping that an upgrade will become available, or suffer with it. You can’t do any modifications yourself. With wargames, you can modify the rules to your taste. And like old-time radio, your mind’s eye provides the sights and sounds, although some people do play movie soundtracks and period music for mood enhancement!

   Finally, wargaming stimulates reading and love of history. The more you participate in the hobby, the more books and articles you try to read about your favorite era and its commanders. By scanning the bibliographies attached to the various rules sets in this work, you can see just how much reading I’ve done for my hobby! These rules will enable you, the reader, to recreate nearly any conflict in history. Take a time machine to the past and enjoy!

John Bobek

Chapter 1: Getting Started

   The easiest way to wargame is to take a particular battle from history (Sadly, there are so many to choose from) and set up the two opposing armies on a battlefield of roughly similar terrain to re-fight it. Obviously, this is subject to the limitations of what miniature figures and terrain you have. However, even if one is limited in one’s wargame armies, navies and air forces, it is still possible to do a variety of historical encounters if you are willing to use some figures to represent others. For example, I use Ju-88 airplane models for Heinkel-111’s because I don’t have many. Purists may object, but it works.

   Should one tire of repeating History, it is always acceptable to make an original battle using armies from the same, or even different time periods, on terrain of your choosing. Just be careful in adjusting figure scales and adjusting relative fighting qualities.

   One way to provide some variety is to write down various possible scenarios on index cards. Whether based on actual or historically possible battles, choose one randomly. Any number of people may contribute to the pool of available scenarios. Whatever is not used can be used at another time.

   Lastly, the most popular (and difficult to do) method for generating battles is the campaign. A campaign involves using a map or other method of keeping track of strategic movement. Battles take place when, where and with what forces due to player movement off the tabletop battlefield. There is a section later in this book dealing with campaign games.

Beginning Play

TERRAIN: Having chosen a battle or campaign, the next step is to translate the campaign or battle map into a tabletop environment. Some expert modelers without limitations as to space, time and money make tabletop battlefields of museum quality. Model railroading skills are obviously useful here. There are also some companies who make modular terrain pieces that, with some patience, can be made to handsomely represent many battlefields.

   For my part, I had made modular terrain boards out of Styrofoam insulation panels that came six to a bag. These allowed rivers with real banks to them! However, they do take up a lot of space, take some time to make (even when you settle for just spray painting the boards green, the rivers take time!) and leave a mess (those rivers again!!). For the pieces to be truly modular, the rivers and roads must all be able to connect in whatever order you arrange them. You are usually limited in the number of terrain boards that you can store (at least I am!). For myself, I had another problem because I often judged games at other locations such as schools and conventions: the terrain boards are not particularly easy to transport (certainly not in a small car!).

   My solution is to use a large piece of green felt. This folds into a small shape for transport, yet unfolds to cover most tables. It has the advantage of allowing an infinite variety of battlefields because you can place boxes (or textbooks if in school) under the felt to produce hills. I use other colors of felt for other features such as strips of blue for rivers, brown for roads, much lighter green for standing crops and much darker green felt for forested areas. These are readily available at fabric stores and some chains like Wal-Mart. Using pieces of dark green felt for forests has an obvious advantage. You need fewer individual trees to produce a forest. One or more model trees placed on the forest felt represents a whole forest. And if availability, portability, or finances restrict you, no model trees are needed as the forest area stands defined by the piece of felt!

   The disadvantage of using felt is that the hills produced may make it difficult, if not impossible for certain figures to stand upright (This is usually not a problem for toy soldiers mounted on a movement stand). Also, you must laboriously place roads and rivers, which must be handled carefully lest they change position! The solution? Use poster-board! Its availability, low cost, ease of storage and transport and quick set-up time recommend it. Naturally, you can use both sides! You can create a variety of modular boards easily.

   You can purchase buildings (some from model railroading, others built with wargaming in mind), or if creative, construct them. Smaller sized pieces store easily in plastic or cardboard boxes. You might consider displaying a much larger piece.

   You can purchase individual trees (especially the larger ones) or make them from pipe cleaner-type affairs called Chenille Bumps for 6mm armies. You can find these in craft sections of stores for a very reasonable price or from wargame hobby shops at very unreasonable prices. Some people mount them permanently into the wargame modular board. I prefer to mount them on pieces of plastic (obtainable at most hobby stores), giving me more flexibility (and more storage room!) for different battlefields. If you need bushes, lichen does just fine.

   Having said all this, it remains to describe the so-called ultimate in wargaming terrains, the sand table. The sand table is just what it sounds like, a table with what in effect is a sand box (not unlike one you might have used as a child!) firmly mounted on top and waterproofed. It’s necessary to waterproof it because you need to wet it down (using a light spray) before forming your battlefield. Should you prefer to do a desert battle complete with a possible sandstorm, don’t bother wetting it.

   Now, what is the advantage of having a sand table? You can mold the terrain as needed into realistic looking battlefields. Add lichen and model trees and you have all the makings of a museum diorama. Smart owners have built covers that disguise this overgrown sandbox, when company comes, as a real table, and thus get double duty out of it.

   However, let me caution you on its often-overlooked drawbacks. Your cat could claim it for its personal kitty litter, or your children might scatter sand everywhere while using it to their own devices. The biggest disadvantage is that it is highly immobile. I don’t just mean you can’t take it to the local games convention. You will find it hard to move around in your basement. Small playing pieces such as micro-tanks have been known to disappear in the sand only to reappear months later in the middle of a medieval battle! However, the absolute worst hazard is that quartz, the basis of most sand, has a hardness of 7. That is harder than a steel file let alone your lead / tin / pewter / or plastic miniatures. After several battles on a sand table, some units may look battle weary as their paint begins to chip off!!!

In any case, a plain table, such as a Ping-Pong table, will do quite well! My own personal wargames table is actually in two separate pieces, each topped with 4’x4’ plywood. The two sections are usually placed together to make a 4’x8’ playing surface, sufficient for most games. The table’s top is 4’ tall to reduce the Goodyear Blimp view of most table surfaces and to make it easier to judge lines of sight (and to enjoy the view from eye level!). This also allows some very useful storage space underneath. Finally, I painted the tabletop a dark blue so that by itself, it makes an excellent ocean for my tabletop fleets.

THE PLAYING PIECES: Everyone recognizes the playing pieces for a chess or checkers game. The playing pieces for a wargame, however, can come in any number of varieties and sizes. The actual materials that make up the pieces are either metal or plastic. With a change in the law, lead soldiers became pewter. There was the usual congressional fear that unsupervised children would ingest lead miniatures. The reality was that lead miniatures are collected by adults who, after painstakingly having painted their armies, keep them safely out of the way of kids (more to safeguard their collection than to protect their children.). Gun owners should keep their firearms away from their offspring half as well!

   The other major material used for wargames figures is plastic, either hard or soft (pliable). Each type has its own advantages and disadvantages. Lead / pewter takes painting well, has a far greater variety available in period, scales, and is reasonably durable. Its disadvantages are that it’s generally more expensive than plastic, is heavier and is potentially toxic (lead, not pewter). It is often difficult to find a local store that stocks them (My 2mm armies, and most of my 6mm, I have gotten from companies in England. I’ve ordered so much over the years, it’s a wonder I haven’t been knighted!), and the extremities may be easily bent or broken (such as gun barrels, swords, etc.).

   Plastic figures have distinct advantages. There are several scales available. It’s generally cheaper than comparable sized metal figures. It can have incredible detail. The extremities usually don’t break without a serious struggle. It’s much lighter (nothing to laugh at when carrying 5,000 metal 25mm soldiers!), and many figures can be found at toy stores and hobby shops.

   Having sung its praises, there are some drawbacks to plastic. For ships and planes, there aren’t many models available in plastic, and they usually need assembly and take up a lot of space. A soft plastic figure doesn’t take paint well (it flakes off after being bent!) without special treatment. Even with the plethora of 54mm and 25mm figures available, lead/pewter figures come in many more time periods and varieties. Plastic figures are more prone to topple at the slightest bumping (not a serious complaint, but annoying if you’re spending much time picking them up!). The most serious problem, plastic figures can come down with the brittles! That is, in the course of aging, plastic figures may just begin to crumble away!!! Even so, if you never threw out your old toys, you may have a ready-made wargames army just waiting for your commands!

Scales

SCALES OF FIGURES: Going to a traditional hobby store specializing in toy soldiers, or checking out an online toy store will quickly leave one bewildered by the sheer variety of figure sizes. If you don’t already possess troops in a specific scale, what scale should you buy?

   The answer to that question lies in how you intend to use the figures. Each scale has advantages and disadvantages. As a rule, as the scale becomes greater (the actual figures become smaller), the cost per figure becomes less. Therefore, a 30mm figure is cheaper than a metal 54mm figure. A 25mm metal figure is cheaper than a 30mm one. Obviously, a 2mm figure will be the cheapest figures to purchase as they use the least amount of metal! Plastic figures hold to this general rule as well but are always cheaper than their metallic counterparts in the same scale.

   Sometimes, the enterprising wargamer can make do with models that are actually sold as toys for children. Galoob toys made a large selection of space and military toys that were inexpensive and already painted. Corgi produces some excellent aircraft and 1/72nd scale armor. I’ve added numerous aircraft, infantry and armor to my collection by stalking the toy sections of stores.

   What do all these numbers like 1/1200, 1/32, 25mm, and 6mm mean? Numbers given in a ratio such as 1/1200, 1/72, etc., refer to the model’s scale of 1-inch equals 1200 inches and 72 inches respectively. Therefore, a 1/72-scale figure of a six-foot tall man is actually 1 inch tall. A 1/3000-scale warship that represents a ship 500 feet long will be only 2 inches long.

   The metric measurements are again a form of scale referring to the height in millimeters of the figure of a six-foot tall man. For example, a 25mm figure is basically 25mm (about an inch) from foot to top of the head.

   Another general rule is that the larger the figures used in gaming, the greater the space needed to game, or, conversely, the fewer the figures that you can game with. A 1/32-scale battle might involve a platoon on a side, maybe 2 or 3 vehicles, in a space 4 x 8 feet (OK, I confess that I have had more than a dozen 1/32nd scale tanks on a 4 by 8 foot table!). In that same space, you could fight a battle with a company of infantry and tanks on each side in 1/72nd scale. In 6mm, that number could easily swell to a battalion or more of tanks a side. In 2mm, this tabletop is the scene of several armor divisions clashing! I should point out that in each of the above-mentioned scales it is possible to increase the numbers beyond what I quoted, at the risk of denying any room to maneuver. When there are so many troops on the table that the only possible direction that you can move is straight ahead, the game becomes a shoot-out, much like a duel.

   The 54mm scale, usually in plastic (Louis Marx toys, Britains, Armies in Plastic, Conte, Classic Toy Soldiers, Timpo, etc.), is great for skirmish style encounters. One man represents one man. One vehicle represents one vehicle. The figures only have the weapons you can see on it. If in fighting a twentieth century conflict you use actual scale, virtually everything on most tabletops will be in range of everything on the table! If you shorten the ranges too much, you gain reason to maneuver, but you may lose the visual illusion. Of course, the figure has so much detail to be seen it also takes longer to paint, not to mention needing more paint. Since some wargamers would rather admire paint jobs that account for every button on a uniform than have a playable game, you can set yourself up for some snide comments if you lack the time or talent to be a museum quality painter. Some 54mm plastic figures come pre-painted, although generally at a steeper price. There are also companies and individuals that will paint your miniatures for you, whatever the scale, but again for a price!

   40mm is not a common scale in America but it does exist in the form of both metal cast and toy figures. Although still a large size figure, 40mm can lend itself to battles with battalions if the ratio of soldiers to figures is higher. If one figure represents 30 actual soldiers, 18 figures are all that are needed for a battalion. Detail is still great, but less than 54mm.

   30mm is mostly a metal scale and quite well detailed still for the button counters. Since it is one quarter smaller than 40mm and almost half the size of the 54mm troops, you can have more units on your battlefield. The more units there are in a game, the longer the game!

   25mm and 20mm are often used interchangeably on the same tabletop battlefield because they are close in size so the difference is not visually disturbing, and actually give a more realistic mix of heights since armies are not composed solely of six-foot tall soldiers! Different manufacturers confuse the issue by how they measure 20 and 25mm so they do tend to blend well enough. This, the so-called HO (1/76) scale, is available in both plastic and metal. Caesar, Hat, Italieri, and many others make soldiers in this scale. Detail, while decent, requires less painting accuracy, and less paint. Of course, you will paint the battle honors on the regimental flags won’t you?!

   15mm starts becoming a scale you can paint more quickly, with less detail but sufficient to be attractive. In a Napoleonic or American Civil War (ACW) game, you can throw a whole corps into battle and still have some elbowroom. The cost, too, has dropped so that you can afford that corps!

   10 and 12mm scales are occasionally available and what was said about the 15’s applies equally well here. These are basically all metal figures. Some brands of figures are better in appearance. Ranges are more limited.

   6mm figures became a real surprise when first released. These all-metal figures are really only meant for wargaming. Sometimes called 1/285 or 1/300, they have significantly less detail to paint (What buttons?). Yet, given a patient and steady hand with a 10 - 0 brush, surprisingly great detail is possible. You can field great quantities of troops and a you’ll have a good visual effect with the mass of troops. This is the most popular scale in America for armor battles. The tanks are referred to as micro-armor, for obvious reasons. For most periods, this is probably the best compromise in size, cost, painting time, detail, and variety, which is nearly unlimited!

   2mm are without doubt, the easiest scale troops to paint, certainly the cheapest, and all of Gettysburg can be easily fought on a 4 x 8 foot table with room to spare! The downside is detail is rudimentary at best. It’s a great scale to test your ability to determine troop type by a uniform’s color alone. It almost has its own built in fog of war factor. Variety IS endless as with so little detail visible, most basic troop types are usable for virtually anything. One other disadvantage is that to the best of my knowledge, 2mm troops are only made in the United Kingdom. Of course, if you live in England, this is no disadvantage. However, it sure makes it tough on an American who would like to see the figures first before buying them!

   Scenery is important in wargames because it affects line of sight and provides cover, not to mention specific objectives to capture. (OK, it looks cool too!) The scales with the most scenery available are 25mm (Thanks to model railroading, there are plenty of HO buildings to choose from), 6mm, and 2mm. Naturally, 2mm scenery is cheapest and easiest to store, 54mm is most expensive and takes up lots of room. Of course, the same can be said of the troops themselves.

Overall, there is something for everyone’s tastes and finances!

PAINTING: If you ever attend a wargames convention, you may be struck by the stunning paint jobs, not just on a few individual figures, but on whole armies of figures. The larger the size of the figure, the better the detail of the painting - the number and arrangement of the uniform’s buttons, the color of the eyes, etc. From these museum quality sets, it’s easy to develop an acute inferiority complex. I could never paint like that!

   OK, maybe you can’t match these micro-Michelangelos. But, you don’t need to!!! All right, you crave a miniatures army that would do a museum diorama proud. If you have the money, there are painted figures that can be purchased (sometimes whole collections!) and painting services to paint for you.

   If you haven’t the money, you can still get by with passable detail. First, the smaller the figure, the less detail you need. In 54mm scale, a British Redcoat’s lace, buttons, and eye color are easily reproduced (This does take time!). In 6mm scale, a dot of flesh tone does the face, a thin line (OOO size brush or smaller) will give the effect of the lace trim on the tricorn hat. In 2mm scale, you get the color of the coat and of the pants, and the hat. Any more detail is considered remarkable indeed (Adding further detail tends to impress some people no end!). Naturally, 2mm is the fastest painting scale!

   So, you want to paint but you don’t have a lot of time. There are many books on model miniatures that recommend painting an undercoat first. I cheat a little here by spray-painting the miniatures in the most dominant color. For example, I spray British Redcoats with red paint. After it’s dry, I then paint the pants and other details with the appropriate hues. I have found that the water based paints sold in craft stores works just fine with miniatures, offer a very large variety of colors, and are cheaper than oil-based enamel paints sold in hobby stores. For soldiers mounted on stands, it may not be necessary to color the bases green, but it sure does improve the overall effect.

   For plastic figures, I’m usually quite content to leave them just as they are which is generally in the dominant color of their uniform. For example, Union plastic soldiers are nearly always cast in blue, Rebel plastic troops in gray. As previously mentioned, the plastic figures tend to lose their paint much more easily than the metal miniatures (Paint can come off the metal figures too!), especially on anything that can bend, such as rifles, swords, etc. There are treatments available that help the paint stay on the plastic. Your local hobby store dealer should be able to help you with this.

Judge’s Guidelines

THE JUDGE: Wargames with miniatures need a judge as much as a courtroom does. Forget the law degree. In wargaming, a judge acts much the same way as an umpire does in a baseball game. He or she interprets the rules and settles all disputes as to what has happened. Of course, a wargaming judge goes beyond an umpire in that an umpire does not decide what the stadium should look like, where to place the bases, even how many bases to have, or how many players may take the field! The wargame judge is usually responsible for the whole scenario and its set-up. This presupposes some familiarity with the rules, the figures used, and the historical period. While the wargame judge doesn’t need a degree in military history, it wouldn’t hurt either. He or she should have a basic understanding of warfare during the period of the game. In other words, if the judge doesn’t know why a Civil War regiment deployed into line to fire, or what a bazooka is used for in WWII, then he or she should delay judging that game until more familiar with the subject.

   Well, what traits should judges have to be effective? Beyond the above-mentioned background knowledge, judges need patience to deal with the many questions (I know I just asked you this, but how far do Hussars move?). Judges need to be very familiar with the rules so that they can resolve any questions quickly. They also need a sense of humor. They don’t need to tell jokes (although that can’t hurt!), but they should be able to laugh at their own mistakes because they will happen. On the other hand, judges should refrain from laughing at the mistakes of players unless the player is laughing first. It just doesn’t pay to hurt a player’s feelings, especially if a friend. The greatest problem in wargaming is finding time to play when others can come over. Who will want to come over if they are constantly put down? As it is, some people are just so inordinately unskilled, unlucky, or both, that they will stop coming anyway. There’s no need to hurry the process. If on the other hand, a judge is able to keep the game entertaining and pressure off the luckless players, they may keep coming back even though they are no more successful as a general than Burnside!

   Another aspect of judging is the same as that of an umpire - keep the game moving! Some players have Procrastination as their middle name. They examine the battlefield, the troops, the rules, consult, fidget with their ruler, their dice, and hesitate after moving each piece as if to say, I wonder if I take this move back and move it over there? Such players can make a 3-hour game run into 5 hours easily! If plagued by a professional procrastinator, you can annoy this player by reminders to move more quickly or you can use a timer. I recommend a timer because it applies to all players equally and it is much more realistic because it duplicates well the inability to get orders through to all units (or that some brigade commanders are in no great hurry to execute them!). However, you cannot give a player 300 playing pieces and 1 minute in which to move them! (Although I know of at least one player who could and did cope with moving great numbers in a short time span,) Allowing 2 minutes per turn is enough for a small game while 5 minutes might be necessary for a larger battle.

   I find it useful to give some background information on the particular scenario, units or historical figures of a particular game. This makes it easier to understand the situation and the rules. While it is not necessary to give notes to the French player written in French, signing it Napoleon Bonaparte is a nice touch to further the Walter Mitty effect. To that end, I describe as accurately as possible the injuries received in combat. My students have particularly relished that part. When you’re in eighth grade, gore is great!

   Is it necessary to have a balanced scenario where each side has an equal chance at winning? I know some who would say yes in a minute. My experience has been that judges who have tried for perfect balance have often set up unreasonable victory conditions or have mismatched the sides leading to a decidedly unbalanced game. I prefer to take the tack that I don’t claim to know if a scenario is balanced or not, or even that it definitely is not balanced! Just play the game, do the best you can and have fun. Some of the most closely contested games I have witnessed have taken place when one side had a preponderance of force in a supposedly unbalanced game. By stating up front that it wasn’t an equal contest, players don’t launch into the I’m losing because you’re not fair! Instead, with the pressure off because they know they should lose (and with possibly an overconfident opponent), they summon up unknown reserves of good judgment and make a run of it, and possibly win!

   In judging, it’s hard to hide your prejudices (and even harder not to have any!) so I state up front that I don’t like the Rebels or that I hate Nazi Germany! Does it mean that I am unfair? No! A judge sets up the scenario before the game starts and has the rules to guide him or her. You don’t single out a side for unfair treatment anymore than an umpire who hates the Yankees calls each Yankee out on strikes! Follow the rules and the spirit in which they were written, and everyone will have a good time.

   What happens if something comes up that is not in the rules? Buy my supplement for only $39.95 plus shipping and handling. Sorry, just kidding! Actually, when someone wants to do something not covered in the rules, several things can be done. First, if it’s not in the rules, then you can’t do it. Most people are OK about that as long as it applies to everyone. Alternatively, if you have read a lot on the period, you can make your own ruling. As long as you apply it consistently, no one will die over it. Be sure to write it down to use the next time.

   Finally, you can let the dice decide! Suggest a probability for the event to take place successfully, and let them roll. For example, someone wants to climb onto a moving tank. It’s not written in the rules so what do you do? It did sometimes happen. What are the odds of successfully jumping onto the back of a moving Sherman Tank? Sounds like very long odds to me. Let the player roll for an 11 or 12 with 2 dice to achieve this Herculean feat. If it’s the player’s personal figure, you might let them try for long odds, a 9 or better with 2 dice. If they roll less than those points, they don’t succeed. If they roll less than a 5, then they fall under the tracks of the tank and discover what it’s like to be raw hamburger! Unusual circumstances may arise in a tabletop wargame that can’t be duplicated in a pre-programmed video game. If a set of rules DID incorporate every single possible situation or variation of result, it would bear a closer resemblance to a thirty-volume set of encyclopedia!

   I guess it’s best to think of being a wargame judge in the same line as being an entertainer. A challenging scenario, a judge who brings up historical background to enlighten, available refreshments, and a riveting narrative of the tabletop action by a judge with a keen imagination, all contribute to an enjoyable afternoon or evening well spent!

VICTORY CONDITIONS: Unlike most boxed games and computer games, wargames with miniatures do not have a set condition or conditions for victory. Every game has the potential for different victory conditions. If you have never played in a miniatures game before (or only once or twice), you may find it difficult to set up just precisely how you win the game.

   Having said that there are no standard victory conditions, I’m going to give some anyway. Actually, these are some guidelines or principles that should make it a little easier to decide who has won the battle.

   For the most part, we will be dealing in this book with games based either directly or indirectly on known military history. Therefore, the first rule of setting down victory conditions is: in the same or a similar situation in history, what would indicate defeat for one side or the other?

   For example, if you are having a WWII armor battle on the Eastern Front, seizing a specific terrain feature, such as a town, bridge, or crossroads could be a plausible victory condition. If in the process of seizing the objective, the Russians absorb heavy casualties, their victory would be no less diminished. Of course, the defeated German player could take some consolation in making the Russians work hard for their win. Should the Germans capture the objectives and take high casualties, that does make a difference for the them. They simply could never replace their losses as they had a much smaller population base than the combined Allies.

   What are heavy casualties? The judge has the final say of course, but I would suggest that any side that has sustained greater than 40% losses in personnel or 50% in equipment (tanks, guns, etc.), has sustained very serious losses.

   To understand the appropriate victory condition, the judge needs to have a good grounding in the historical period. The game may reflect a very specific battle, such as Gettysburg, or be a purely what if scenario, such as the American invasion of the Japanese main islands. Either way, it’s vital that the judge has a good idea of the conditions of the time. It doesn’t hurt for the players to have this knowledge either.

   The second rule is: the side that is in sole possession of the battlefield is the victor. If the Austrian army is swept from the field in rout by Napoleon’s Old Guard, it should be obvious that the French have won! Again, heavy losses might diminish the value of the victory. A Confederate victory on the field in which the Union might have lost 12,000 casualties to a Rebel loss of 21,000, is clearly a very tenuous triumph for an army chronically short in manpower.

   The third rule is: judges may set up specific victory conditions. If the judge tells you that your victory is dependent upon marching two corps off the opposite edge of the tabletop battlefield, then that is what you must do to win. I judged a Napoleonic game in which three French Corps and a cavalry division were to get the bulk of two corps off the opposite side of the table to trap the withdrawing Russian army for Napoleon’s coup de grace. The Russian players had a corps and a cavalry division to protect the whole length of the table. Incredulously to my way of thinking, the Russian commander had his entire force enter only upon one road on his left. The French marched on using three arterial roads, two of which were completely unopposed, although not immediately apparent due to hidden movement. I spoke to the Russian commander and pointed out that his deployment had certainly cost him the game as the French commander need only march his two unopposed corps off the board and the game was over.

   The Russian player, far from conceding the hopelessness of his situation, reassured me that he would indeed win this battle. His prophecy of success was amazingly confirmed by the behavior of his French opponent. The French Corps on the right immediately launched an attack against the Russians opposite. Then, the French Corps in the middle angled its way toward the developing battle. Finally, after sending a small cavalry detachment up the road a ways to see that no further Russians were approaching, the French Corps on the left pulled back and marched to join the heated fray in the opposite corner of the battlefield!

   Thinking I had been lost in an episode of The Twilight Zone for wargaming judges, I sent a messenger from Napoleon to ask where his corps were? Even with this reminder that victory lay in not being tied down in a pitched battle, the French commander continued his furious assault. The compact interior lines, the shorter distances to be covered by reinforcements, the terrain, and the somewhat jumbled attack by the French all worked to give the Russians the better of the bloodletting. In the end, the French lost because they chose to ignore the victory conditions. I bet Napoleon was not pleased!

   What of my mad Russian genius? He knew the psychological make up of his opponent and gambled that the battle would be fought on the ground he had chosen. I guess choose a battlefield and they will come.

   The final rule for victory conditions is: campaign games often have built in victory conditions that become apparent as the game is played. If the Union divisions cut the last remaining supply route to Richmond, the Rebels must either reopen it or abandon their capitol. Admittedly, this still may have a lot to do with the first rule, it has a concrete scope beyond the tabletop because the strategic or maneuver map IS the real tabletop.

Judge’s Guidelines for Simulating Warfare

This is not a specific set of rules, but a highly useful tool to supplement any set of rules or to create a set of rules, based on the bell-shaped curve of which researchers and test makers are so fond.    When looking at the probability of a particular outcome, determine what its chances are using the following generic criteria.

PROBABILITY OF OCCURRENCE

Miracle            Roll 3 dice. All must match.

Very long odds         11 or 12 with 2 dice (11 or better)

Long odds         9 to 12 with 2 dice (9 or better)

50 - 50            7 to 12 with 2 dice (7 or better)

Good chance         5 to 12 with 2 dice (5 or better)

Sure thing         3 to 12 with 2 dice (3 or better)

   For most events, you might use 50-50 as the base number for a successful conclusion.

Suggested Applications to hit a target:

movement          go up 1 category (-2 to your die roll)

cover            go up 1 category It is suggested that movement and cover are not cumulative.

unskilled          go up 1 category

long range         go up 1 category

big target         go down 1 category (+2 to your die roll)

short range         go down 1 category

skilled             go down 1 category

Options

crude weapon         go up 1 category

personal figure shot at       go up 1 category

scatter weapon         go down 2 categories (+4 to your die roll)

precision weapon      down 1 category

NO RESULT CAN BE GREATER THAN A SURE THING!

Here is an example of these guidelines in use.

   Your commando moves past a German machine-gun nest. You’re at long range so the machine-gun rolls 2 times for an 9 or better. You aren’t hit but you don’t want to stay in the open either. There’s a closed door in the building next to you. It’s a 50 - 50 chance it would be locked (In New York today it would be a sure thing!). You roll a 6 and the door is locked. It’s a good chance that you can kick it in. You roll for your 5 or better and get a 12, slamming the door open. A German officer is surprised. It’s long odds that he will react faster than you. He rolls for his 9 or better and rolls a 7. It’s a good chance you can nail him with your submachine-gun and with a roll of an 8, you do!

   Anyway, you get the picture. Calculate the odds and roll for it!

Game Terms

While the various rules sets in this book vary in their specifics, there are some things common to them all. Other items here are useful for the social aspect of gaming! Consider this a glossary of gaming.

ACCURACY: You’re playing a warGAME! If you expect wargames to produce an exact replication of combat, you will be sadly disappointed. As a wargamer, you never experience the cold, heat, dampness (no matter how bad your house is), thirst, hunger, mind-numbing fatigue (even if you game all night), bruises, and pants-wetting terror that real combat entails. And if you have any brains, you DON’T WANT to experience it! The best that any wargame (paintball, computer, board or miniatures) can do is to give one the feeling for what it was like. Enjoy the game for what it is, a GAME!

ALCOHOL: Serving alcoholic beverages at a wargame is fine if the consumers are of age. However, there is a caveat. Alcohol affects judgment. This can cause poor decisions for the gamer (I’ve never needed any substance to make mistakes, I’m quite proficient on my own!). While this may not be a problem for their non-drinking opponents, it can